someone (not sure who - stupidly deleted the mail - too many ticks, crosses
and assessment criteria dancing before my eyes) queried the connection
between knowing technical vocab, and intelligence. As someone who has
never managed to get an A for anything in an academic setting, I completely
agree!
That's the problem with trying to teach students to read attentively and
with confidence. Firing enthusiasm and gut level response, and at the same
time equipping them with vocabulary and concepts in order to be able to
write fluently and persuasively about the experience and the thinking it
initiates.
In my classes we use coloured pens, make dub style tape recordings of
Shakespeare, hammer on the tables as we read aloud, choose words to shout
in unison..... ) _and_ I try to teach something about theory, about
modernism and its posts, about language and hard words.......
and I'd rather have a student who is moved by a poem, than one who can
flash around smart vocab.
Today yielded another gem that I will treasure. Of the third draft of
Anthem For Doomed Youth, which is the first 'neat' one with a clearly
defined sonnet structure, a student said 'it is as if he is trying to calm
down the newly drafted poem'
response to the question
clear line of argument
fluent expression
discussion of form
and style
and use of vocabulary
understanding of the poem
??????????????????
Liz
(forgive me - five more scopts (scripts) and I will have finished!)
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